Thousands Of Birds Die After Mistaking WALMART Parking Lot For Water

THEBELLINGHAMHERALD.COM - Thousands of migratory birds died on impact after apparently
mistaking a Wal-Mart parking lot and other areas of southern Utah for
bodies of water and plummeting to the ground in what one wildlife expert
called the worst downing she's ever seen.

Crews went to work
cleaning up the dead birds and rescuing the survivors after the
creatures crash-landed in the St. George area Monday night.

By Tuesday evening, volunteers had rescued more than 2,000 birds, releasing them into nearby bodies of water.

"They're just everywhere," said Teresa Griffin, wildlife
program manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resource's southern
region. "It's been nonstop. All our employees are driving around
picking them up, and we've got so many people coming to our office and
dropping them off."

Officials say stormy conditions probably
confused the flock of grebes, a duck-like aquatic bird likely making its
way to Mexico for the winter. The birds tried to land in a Cedar City
Wal-Mart parking lot and elsewhere.

"The storm clouds over the top
of the city lights made it look like a nice, flat body of water. All
the conditions were right," Griffin told The Spectrum newspaper in St.
George (http://bit.ly/rYpQbJ). "So the birds landed to rest, but ended
up slamming into the pavement."

No human injuries or property damage have been reported.

It's
not uncommon for birds to mistake hard surfaces for water. However,
Griffin noted most downing are localized, while "this was very
widespread."

"I've been here 15 years and this was the worst downing I've seen," she told the newspaper.

Wildlife
officials said they were continuing the rescue effort that started
Tuesday afternoon and included an enthusiastic group of volunteers.

The
surviving grebes were gathered up - some in cardboard boxes - and
dropped into bodies of water in southern Utah's Washington County,
including a pond near Hurricane.

Residents who came across remaining grebes were asked to either call wildlife officials or bring the birds to their office.

"If
we can put them on a body of water that's not frozen over, they'll have
a better chance of survival," said Lynn Chamberlain, a wildlife agency
spokesman.

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